in the forests of siberia (w&d safy nebbou; w. sylvain tesson, david oelhoffen)

The Romantic tradition has long had a strong hold over French sensibility. Rimbaud and Gauguin are just the tip of the iceberg. This film taps right into it. It’s based on the book written by Sylvain Tesson (Consolations of the Forest) which told the story of the author’s six months in Siberia. A desire to get away from it all, armed with nothing much more than vodka and literature. Not having read the book, I can’t comment on how faithful the film is to Tesson’s story. The lead character isn’t called Sylvain, he’s called Teddy, and the curious thing about the film is that it ends up not being about solitude, but companionship. The film hinges on Teddy’s meeting and getting to know Aleksei, a Russian who fled to the wilderness after he killed a man, many years ago. 

The first act of the film traces Teddy’s journey towards his solitude as he arrives in his cosy hut by the banks of a frozen Lake Baikal. He has an interesting visit from a bear. He seems quietly content on his own, although he does make a cross-lake skiing trip to the nearest settlement to get provisions. When he comes back he ignores the advice he’s been given and heads out into a snowstorm, an action which might have been the death of him if it wasn’t for the intervention of the mysterious stranger, who turns out to be Aleksei. 

The film from there on in feels faintly formulaic as the two men bond over the course of various adventures. What keeps the movie ticking over is some agile editing by Anna Riche. There must have been a temptation to linger on the ravishing scenery. The natural world Teddy inhabits is the third character in the film, sometimes antagonist, sometimes consolation, sometimes philosophical partner. However, in a movie of an hour and a half, there’s always a danger of overkill, something the rhythm of the film manages to avoid. Nevertheless it feels a pity that the Aleksei-Teddy storyline takes quite such a predictable course; the more profound learning that Teddy might have encountered in his sojourn in the wilderness never quite comes across. In the hands of Herzog, Teddy’s journey might have been more unsettling (and there are moments when one is reminded of Grizzly Man), or more spiritual; instead Safy Nebbou chooses to veer towards a more sentimental, (romantic?), vision of life in the Siberian wilds.